In this highly-acclaimed biography, Shipman tells the whole story of this doomed and deified performer: her days as a child star, the daughter of a gay father; her ascension to teenage stardom; her introduction to drugs by MGM; her years of alcoholism and substance abuse; her relationship with daughter Liza Minelli; and more. Photos.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
Big, heart-heavy bio of Garland that--though never stylish- -holds throughout. Shipman wrote the huge, chatty film history The Story of Cinema (1984). One wonders, starting out, what new stuff Shipman has dug up. Whole books study passages in Garland's life, such as the making of The Wizard of Oz and of A Star Is Born, and the shooting of her TV series. Must we settle for fresh dirt on her sex life? Yes, her bisexuality takes up a page or two; her husband/director Vincente Minnelli's homosexuality is scanned; and, at one point, we find Garland climbing into the back seat and fellating her gay hairdresser after she's failed to bring her driver to climax by hand. But such ginger-flavored passages are fairly rare. What we really get is the unbelievable downhill slide of a stupendous talent who could reduce seven thousand people at once to sloppy tears, even near her end. At the age of 12, she sang like ``a woman with a heart that had been hurt.'' Though a child, Garland outstripped her two older sisters in their stage act together. One wonderful night as an adult, when she ran out of encores, the audience sang ``Auld Lang Syne'' to her. Garland rises time and again here through death's trapdoor, each resurrection thrilling as she gets back up and rips out her heartstrings. This is a sad story: Pills, pills, pills, from girlhood on. Huge earnings, endless hospitals. Slit wrists, blamed on her mother, and teenage daughter Liza caring for Garland's crumbling ego. Tax problems, quarrels with film and TV studios, broken contracts, cancellations. Then the Big Cancel. If you can take it, it's a great story. (Twenty-four pages of b&w photographs) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A second reading required, be prepared.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend (Paperback)
This is an odd, yet interesting book on the life of Ms. Garland. Considering Mr. Shipman's credentials, it cannot be just dismissed. A large book (515 pages of actual reading is substantial!), I was unable to put it down when I first read it and yet, it speculates so much on an aspect of her personal life, that it really does require a second reading in order to digest all that he claims to be fact. Not that it's a "trash" novel, but it does make a fan of Ms. Garland's stand back and take a look at what it claims to be fact. Still, worth buying and reading, possibly reading more than once.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love her and hate her,
By
This review is from: Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend (Hardcover)
To those people who claim that Shipman does indeed hate Judy need to take a closer look. His book is rich in documentation that supports his research. Furthermore, you can telll he was a devoted fan that can still be objective regarding her talent and her misgivings and faults. We have to remember the duress that Judy endured, the people who abandoned her when she most needed help, the promises of the studios to give her time off to replenish her energy and the monstrous effect of Louis B. Mayer. No wonder Liza has problems of her own. She was affected first hand. This review is fair to the artist without tarnishing her talent and accessibility to the public, as well as her warmth. A great read!
1.0 out of 5 stars
Another piece of trash about Judy? Oh gee what a shock,
This review is from: Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend (Paperback)
David Shipman has been described by some who knew him as a man who would always embellish a quote to make it sound worse. With this book he comes off as a man with a chip on his shoulder and preoccupied with what went on in the bedroom. He presents his own opinions and speculation as if it were fact.
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